CI-P: Towards the Creation of a Unified Repository for MultiLingual and CrossLingual Multiword Expressions

跨词边界的单个概念，如kick the bucket和traffic light，通常被称为多词表达式（MWE）。自然语言中普遍使用MWE。从处理的角度来看，MWEs提出了重大挑战。在文本中明确地识别、分类和建模MWEs可以改进NLP技术。本提案的目标是开展探索性研究，并就创建跨语言（阿拉伯语、汉语、英语、西班牙语、波斯语）、体裁和领域的多语言和跨语言MWE统一存储库达成共识，同时添加上下文参考和现有词汇资源的链接。了解跨语言的MWE空间将对多语言和跨语言NLP应用以及语言学研究产生重大影响。如此大规模的资源将通过增加对共同的和不同的文化和语言概念的见解，为广泛的类型学和词源学研究提供对语言共性和语言特定研究的有纪律的调查，这些研究是关于概念如何在不同民族之间形成的基础。多词表达式（MWE）占据了语义空间的很大一部分。随着对MWE及其性质、行为和用法的深入了解，自然语言处理（NLP）从业者可以构建更健壮的系统来实现自然语言理解（NLU）的目标。同时观察不同的语言集将使我们对语言共性和语言特定现象有更多的见解，这对我们如何设计整体自然语言解决方案有深远的影响。本提案的目标是进行探索性研究，并为创建跨不同体裁和领域的多语言和跨语言MWE统一存储库建立共识，同时添加上下文参考和到现有词汇资源（如WordNet）的链接。我们的愿景是建立一个存储库，使用跨5种不同语言的链接进行一致的注释：阿拉伯语、中文、英语、西班牙语和波斯语。这笔拨款将支持以下工作：i)调查不同语言的MWEs通用语言信息，以及识别特定语言或类型学相关语言的差异特征；Ii)对重要标注任务进行试点标注研究；Iii)构建用于收集、存储和注释数据的基础设施；Iv)开发工具，从现有资源中引导预期的资源；v)组织两次为期两天的研讨会，收集该领域主要研究人员的意见，并就这一资源的关键问题达成共识。

Single concepts that cross word boundaries, such as kick the bucket and traffic light, are typically referred to as multiword expressions (MWE). MWE usage is pervasive in natural languages. MWEs pose a significant challenge from a processing perspective. Explicitly identifying, classifying, and modeling MWEs in text is shown to improve NLP technologies. The objective of this proposal is to conduct exploratory research and build consensus towards the creation of a Unified Repository for Multilingual and Cross-lingual MWE cutting across different languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, Persian), genres and domains while adding contextual references and links to existing lexical resources. Understanding the space of MWE across different languages will have a significant impact on multilingual and cross-lingual NLP applications as well as studies in Linguistics in general. Such a large-scale resource will provide for a disciplined investigation into language universals and language-specific studies by adding insights into shared and varying cultural and language concepts as grounds for extensive typological and etymological studies of how concepts are formed across peoples. Multiword Expressions (MWE) occupy a significant portion of the semantic space. With deeper understanding of MWE, their nature, behavior and usage, natural language processing (NLP) practitioners can build more robust systems to achieve the goal of Natural Language Understanding (NLU). Looking at a diverse set of languages simultaneously would lead to more insights into language universals and language specific phenomena having profound impact in how we design overall natural language solutions. The objective of this proposal is to conduct exploratory research and build consensus towards the creation of a Unified Repository for Multilingual and Cross-lingual MWE cutting across different genres and domains while adding contextual references and links to existing lexical resources such as WordNet. The vision is for a repository that is consistently annotated with links across 5 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Persian. This grant will support the following: i) investigating universal linguistic information that is common across MWEs in various languages as well as identifying differentiating features that are language-specific or found in typologically related languages; ii) conducting pilot annotation studies on essential annotation tasks; iii) building the basic infrastructure for harvesting, storing, and annotating the data; iv) developing tools to bootstrap the envisioned resource from existing resources; and, v) Organizing two 2-day workshops to gather input from leading researchers in the field and to build consensus on key issues for such a resource.